Turkey Chemistry

As I previously posted, this year I was in charge of all the baking for Casey's family fake Thanksgiving... thus, "Fakesgiving". My mom did bake a couple dishes to help ease my load! I was a bit anxious about cooking a 22 pound bird for the first time. I've cooked a whole chicken, that's the same right?! Sort of. I searched and searched the sea of endless recipes for the "perfect turkey". Everyone has THE recipe, THE perfect proportions, THE right method. If you don't have a secret family recipe passed down from the dawn of time, then it can be very confusing and overwhelming. I'm not claiming I have the best recipe ever, but my birdie turned out pretty darn good. I adapted it from a recipe Casey found on the internet... a good cook always adapts. So here are all the things I learned about turkeys and the adapted recipe...

• Most turkeys you buy are frozen. My 22# turkey took about 4 days in my tiny fridge to thaw. We had to clean the fridge out to get that monster in there.  
• Don't forget to take the package of goodies out of the turkey before rinsing and brining. And by goodies I mean yucky innards. 
• When you brine the turkey before roasting, the cells of the turkey lock in the flavoring and moisture making the turkey very moist even after roasting. 
• Tie those legs up with twine for even roasting 
• READ THE ENTIRE RECIPE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!

Katie's Turkey Recipe: 
Recipe is for a 14-16 pound turkey (which is one of the reasons I adapted) 

Brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon (128 oz) of vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger (I could only find crystallized ginger and it worked the same)

• 1 gallon of heavily iced water 

Aromatics (the insides of the turkey during roasting):

• 1 red apple, quartered
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water 
• herb bundle of rosemary, sage, thyme
• 5 large cloves of garlic
• canola oil 

Directions: 

Start thawing turkey 2-3 days before roasting. (unless you have a 22 pound turkey then start at least 4 days before) Make sure your refrigerator is 38 degrees.

In a stock pot, combine vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice, and candied (or crystallized) ginger. Over medium-high heat, bring mixture to boil. Stir occasionally to dissolve salt and sugar. Once dissolved, remove from heat to cool to room temp. Then, refrigerate. (I recommend doing this step the day before you're ready to start brining). 

The day before roasting, combine the brine and ice water in a 5 gallon bucket (I used a VERY large stock pot) Place the thawed, rinsed turkey breast side down in the brine. It's important that the whole turkey is immersed in the brine. Refrigerate for the entirety of the brining process. I read that the turkey should brine 1 hour for every pound it weighs, no more. If you brine too long the turkey could become mushy and no one likes a mushy turkey.

When it's time to roast, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. YEP, 500! Remove the birdie from the brine and give him a good rinse in cold water. Place him on a roasting rack inside a roasting pan (no brainer). Dry the turkey off with paper towels. 

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, water in a bowl. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add the steeped aromatics (not the water) to the turkey's cavity, along with your herb bundle and garlic. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with the canola oil. 

Roast the turkey on the lowest rack in the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Insert an oven safe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. I also covered the turkey's breast with a foil "bra" (foil that is shaped over the entire breast). This is because breast meat needs to reach 161 degrees and dark meat 180 degrees. This ensures the breast meat doesn't dry out while waiting for the dark meat to heat to its designated temperature. Turn your oven down to 350 degrees and roast until breast reaches 161 degrees. A 14-16 pound turkey should take 2 - 2.5 hours. Our birdie took 3 hours and 45 minutes. 

Let the turkey rest under some foil for about 15 minutes, before carving. 

Tada!!!!

We had a good amount of turkey left over with which I made a nice, winter soup. You can only make so many turkey sandwiches until you get burnt out. I also made around 10 quarts of turkey stock with the remaining bones. These will be a great thing to pull out of my freezer this winter to add to soups, rice, etc. I do this when I roast chicken too. You paid for the whole bird you might as well use the whole bird! Anyways, I would love to hear if you used this recipe and how it turned out for you!

A Story...

I haven't written in a few days because we have been extra busy with our anniversary, my birthday, and Veteran's Day. Not to mention this coming weekend Casey's family is coming to our house for our annual "Fakesgiving"! It's going to be a blast, but you know how it goes when family comes to stay... clean, clean, when was the last time I cleaned this, clean, and clean some more. I keep my house pretty tidy, but that's just not good enough for me! I'm a bit on the anal side when it comes to guests in my home. That all being said I'm not talking about all that on this post...

I've decided to tell a story. Mine and Casey's story. It's our very own fairytale and we love it. We've told a bit of it in church but I'm hoping to jot down every detail of the night we met. Even the parts that aren't easy to talk about, just because they are equally important to our story. So in honor of our 4 years together, here we go...

Most know that I was previously married... that marriage was nullified earlier in the year that Casey and I met. To not have to deal with all the emotion and responsibility that comes from a divorce, I decided that becoming the manager of the local coffee shop was a good idea. More time working, less time at home alone. I also agreed to running a concession stand on the side for this company. All that to say, I worked about 60 hours a week.

Casey had recently moved to Indiana to heal from some instances in his life and help a best friend through some tough times as well. He decided that it would be smart to get a part time job. It just so happened that a local bar found him to be very (over) qualified and hired him on the spot! His first day on the job it was his responsibility to change the "help wanted" sign. I was driving home through town from a particularly long, emotional day, and noticed him changing this sign and thought to myself, rather negatively... "I've changed outdoor signs before, not too fun." Also, I did notice he could probably handle the job since he was pretty fit. I arrived home shortly after the first viewing of what would be the rest of my life, to find my doggie had destroyed most of my tiny house. She was pretty emotional from all the recent changes too. As I was cleaning up, I stubbed my toe. No big deal, right? Except this was the last straw. This was the moment everything that had been suppressed came to a head and I fell to my knees in tears. (partially out of physical pain, but mostly emotional pain) All I could get out was "God I can't do this anymore, please do something. Please." <<< I kind of yelled. My dog was terrified.

My emotional break down ended a few hours later and I went to bed. The next day was another draining day, I worked from about 5 am, then headed off to my night at the ball park. It ended pretty late and I was starving. Not wanting to eat another night of concession stand food, I logically thought bar food was better. Well, in my defense, this bar food WAS better. So there I go, smelling like a grease trap, no make-up, the weight of my stress all over my body, and my Beatles shirt. I walk through the doors of the bar, take a seat, smoke a cigarette and order my food. I tell you about my horrible smoking habit because it's important. See, Casey had a rule, no dating girls that smoke. When I see Casey I think, "He's pretty cute" and move on. There's no possible way I'm ready for a relationship. Casey and I start chatting it up, smiling, and laughing. I'm doing pretty good at subduing my stress, because for the first time in while, I was smiling because I was actually enjoying myself. We talked and talked. He accidentally ignored some patrons because he couldn't disengage from the conversation. Good thing these patrons were pretty easy going. One in particular, whose name was Willie (you've got to be laid back when your name is Willie), asked us how long we had been together. We told him we just met. Then drunk, old Willie said the most profound, foretelling thing... "You kids treat and talk to one another as if you have been together for years". We laughed awkwardly and I asked Willie to play some pool. (mostly because I wanted to show off my sweet billiard skills to this cutie that made me smile; Casey not Willie. Willie was old with not many teeth.) There I was, being a pool shark, sneaking some smiles, and having the best time watching Willie play air guitar with his pool stick until closing time. I was pretty certain Casey was interested in me too, but when I went to walk out the door he still hadn't asked for my number. I got all the way out the door, but marched back in to do something I had never done before. I gave a man my phone number in a bar. Later, I found out about his rule of not dating a smoker and it made more sense as to why he didn't ask for contact info. However, something inside of him made him over look that rule and he sent me a text message as soon as he was off work. I thank God for showing him there was more in me than a horrible habit. We went on our first date a week later (the county fair) and have been inseparable ever since. (Maybe I'll tell you the story of our first date in the future... it's a pretty good story too)

This was God "doing something". Some people may roll their eyes and say that Casey wasn't a God intervention it was just my broken heart looking for a rebound. Well, I don't put my God in a box. My God can use any situation for His glory. God called Casey, and still calls Casey, to challenge me to be a better me. God uses Casey to point me to Him. Casey is one of God's gadgets used to heal, protect, and restore my heart. I'm so thankful for my love. I'm grateful for his integrity. I'm continually overwhelmed at his discernment for God's voice. And I'm also thankful that he didn't get close enough to me that night to smell the grease trap. That surely would have sent him running! The past four years of our life together have been a roller coaster of learning and new experiences. It's been years full of forgiveness and grace, and a continual strive for Christ to shine through our love. I Love You Casey!

 I hope you enjoyed our first encounter story... maybe sometime you will read Casey's side of the story! Look for my post later this week on how my first experience cooking a turkey goes.

Girlfriends For Life Support!

For the bulk of my life, I lived under the myth that guy friends were better than girl friends; no drama. I spent most of my childhood playing with my brothers, boy cousins, and the neighbor boy. We played well together and I didn't force (on too many occasions) them to play my girl games. There wasn't much crying over feelings we didn't understand. There was no "You talked to him more than me!" I think the most traumatic thing was when the neighbor boy threw a mud pie straight at my head and my mom made me come inside to wash up and not return outside to give him a good one right back! I loved doing "boy" activities and I still do!

I did have a sweet best friend in grade school. Sarah was a wonderful best friend! She grew up on a farm, so our play dates were spent doing more tom-boy stuff than barbies! Then middle school hormones hit, and boys were the focus. I held tightly to the idea that I didn't have girl friends because I didn't want the drama. I justified spending my time with boy friends (romantic or not) for the fact that I didn't need the fighting and the pettiness created by girl friendships. Let's just be honest... that justification was such a lie! I wanted to put boys first because they made me feel pretty. Wow, I really robbed myself. This justification continued on through my short college life and even after that.

Jump forward, skipping some gritty bits, to when I met my husband. I had still been on this "boy friends" rail when I met Casey. We hit it off right away and married soon after! We moved away from my childhood town and started a new life together. I was working in a new place, getting along much better with the guys (not for validation) because that's all I knew. Looking back, I passed up some pretty good girl friends. Then I got pregnant and my mind sure changed. Boys didn't have any idea what I was going through, and I started longing for a few girl friends to share this time of my life with. We were in an awesome church, but making girl friends was so foreign to me. Sure, I talked to the ladies. But I was looking for something deep! Something that I hadn't ever experienced. I prayed for a close bond! Why wasn't it happening?

Then I felt God telling me, "be honest" "lay yourself down". I need to be a friend to get a friend... age old advice I know. It took the selfless act of motherhood for me to understand. (I should have already learned this in marriage but I hadn't; and that's a completely different post) My first adult girlfriend was, of course, my mom. But she had to love me; I wanted someone who didn't have to love my ugliness. So time marched on, and our second pea-pod was on the way. And then it happened...I went to dinner with some girls from church and friendships blossomed! We were honest, selfless, and real. I'm so happy to say, that for the first time in my adult life I have some of the best friends a girl can ask for and one very special kindred spirit.

It's important, even vital, for us ladies to have these bonds. We need them for support, extra prayer, laughter, tears. God uses girlfriends in extraordinary ways. He uses them to keep us accountable, to text funny stories on the worst days, to point out our ugly parts in the most tender (or not so tender) ways. They patch that gash on your heart by giving you some of theirs. All while pouring us a glass of wine, or coffee! We live life together in a unique way. Most importantly, girlfriends continually plug our life support in to the Savior!

I love you my friends and my kindred spirit! I thank God for you! 

**I wish I could add a couple faces to this picture! <3

Not Another Mom Blog...

I am 100% certain that I am not the first mom to blog. I will most certainly not be the last. So, let's all say it together "Not another mom blog!" There are so very many blogs out there of moms, for moms, about moms that mine will assuredly be lost in the archives. Aren't we all just trying to organize the pandemonium that is motherhood/wifehood/lifehood? Typing away so that someone, anyone, out there will glimpse into our adventures and relate. Or, most importantly, avoid the most recent catastrophe? My blog is no different. However, every "mom blog" is completely remarkable for the reason that we all have extremely unique happenings to write about, deliciously unique family recipes to share with the world, and beautifully unique beating hearts to expose for the sake of others. I hope you can connect while reading my adventures on family, faith, food, and (I can't think of another "f" word) life.